Is Art Without Meaning Decoration?

I think all art has meaning. In it's own way, decoration does have meaning too, making it art. Not everyone can see that meaning though. I remember going on a field trip to an art museum when I was in elementary school and seeing this one painting. It was just a small square in the middle of a canvas. I remember being so confused. Why would that be considered art? It's just a square. Although it seems like "just a square" to most of us, the artist could have had a specific meaning in mind. The artist may not have known what it meant either, but something led them to create it.  Therefore, art without meaning can still be called art.

Element Project

stencil on top of black canvas

The element I ended up using was space. I decided to highlight negative and positive space in my piece. I took the word space a bit literally, and ended up making the light parts a galaxy pattern.

I used a picture of my friend as a reference. She has really long hair, so I extended it even more outwards to fill up the bottom part of the canvas. I chose this subject because I thought it would look best if I used a person, since their skin could blend into the background.

touching up with black paint

To actually paint the picture, I used both acrylic paint and spray paint. I painted the canvas a metallic black color with acrylic paint. Then, I used a stencil and spray painted the galaxy. Overall, I think it turned out pretty good for my first time creating stencils and using spray paint as a medium.